Lung Cancer Nurse UK Conference May 2023

In May we had the pleasure of attending the UK Lung Cancer Nurse Conference in Birmingham. The sessions were wide ranging with excellent speakers and the joy of being with colleagues combined to generate the reactions you see below.

Poster Presentation

LCNUK invite organisations to submit their research abstracts and examples of best practice/service development for inclusion at the conference. These abstracts are reviewed and I am thrilled to say that not only was our abstract accepted but we won best abstract! This meant we had the opportunity to present our work at the conference.

Working from the analysis of our 2022 Patient Experience Survey we identified areas of disparity in care across our patient base. Having the opportunity to present enabled us highlight our areas of concern: waiting time for scan results, access to routine brain MRI scans, the high levels of anxiety in our patient population and access to psychological support. There was a degree of shock in the audience especially around the lack of consistency in relation to brain MRIs and patients difficulty in accessing available support.

Changing role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)

The CNS continues to be the ‘significant presence’ for both patients and their loved ones. The increasing complexity of their role and patients’ expanding expectations are resulting in greater pressure on the CNS. Several Trusts have decided to create another role to support the CNS, that of Navigator. The aim is to give the patient another point of contact who can deal with non-clinical issues and be proactive in helping patients get the best and most efficient care.

In addition, there was discussion around supporting the patient in taking greater ownership of their disease. Recognising that patients are living longer with lung cancer and through the growth of self-advocacy, patient lead groups, self-help tools and patients’ hunger to learn about their disease, the community of patients is learning to support itself. This is to be applauded and supported as those patients who are actively engaged in their treatment do better than those who are passive.

Social impact of side effects

Acknowledgement that certain side effects can impact the patient in unexpected ways. A side effect that is expected and appears relatively minor to the clinician, can have broader implications. The example given was coughing, ‘it is only a cough and is very common’. A continuous cough, especially if made worse by speaking, can lead however to isolation and social withdrawal. There is a need to capture the impact of side effects from the patient’s perspective as well as the medical.

Dealing with the emotional Patient

Psychological care is often seen as an added extra even though 25% of patients will need emotional support in their 1st year after diagnosis. If not treated this will result in a poorer quality of life, and function and an adverse impact on the family.

Not all doctors or nurses have received training in this and for some patients treating depression is more important than treating cancer as the two are interlinked in relation to outcomes’

There is a need to clinically screen for depression at the point of diagnosis. Clinicians need to understand what is an adjustment to the diagnosis and what is depression. The latter is where symptoms persist: suicidal thoughts, persistent low mood, feeling useless etc.

Identifying depression at diagnosis and referring the patient to specialist care will have a positive impact on their outcome. Not treating this will increase the severity of their disease.